Fiji Kava: What It Is, How to Prepare It, Where to Buy It

You can browse kava from local merchants on DoorToShop. The listing shown on this page is read from the catalogue, so the seller, price and stock are whatever is current. Orders are couriered to your delivery address.

Kava is a drink made from the ground root of the kava plant, Piper methysticum, mixed with cold water and strained. It is central to social and ceremonial life across the Pacific, and in Fiji it is known as yaqona or grog.

Put two to three tablespoons of ground kava per cup of water into a fine strainer bag, sit it in a bowl of cool water, then knead and squeeze the bag for about ten minutes until the water turns opaque brown. Wring the bag out, discard the spent powder and serve the liquid. Kava is always prepared with cold or room-temperature water, never hot.

As a rough guide, 100g of ground kava is commonly prepared with roughly one to one and a half litres of water, depending on how strong you want it. Start weaker than you think you want and adjust on the next batch.

Earthy and peppery, with a muddy texture. It numbs the tongue and lips slightly for a minute or two after drinking, which is a normal characteristic of the drink.

Customarily it is served from a shared bowl into a bilo, a half coconut shell. The person receiving it claps once, says "bula", drinks the bowl in one go, and claps three times as it is passed on.

No. Kava contains no alcohol. It should not be mixed with alcohol, and you should not drive or operate machinery after drinking it.

If you are pregnant or breastfeeding, taking any medication, or have a liver condition, talk to your doctor before drinking kava. Kava is a traditional beverage rather than a medicine, and this page is not medical advice.

Keep the powder sealed in an airtight container somewhere cool, dry and out of direct sunlight. Prepared kava should be refrigerated and drunk within a day or two.

Orders are dispatched by the merchant the next business day and typically arrive within 1 to 3 business days by courier. Enter your postcode at checkout to confirm delivery coverage for your address.

Delivery is calculated at checkout, where the exact amount is confirmed. Free delivery applies above the threshold shown there, in the Auckland region only. There is no minimum order value.

Yes. DoorToShop is a multi-merchant marketplace, so you can add kava to the same cart as other grocery products available from participating merchants and check out once.